1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the current flow in Magnetic Recording Elements, and more particularly to methods of switching the current direction of a Soft Adjacent Layer Magneto Resistive head (SAL) or a Single Stripe Magneto Resistive head (SSMR).
2. Description of the Related Art
In the present Soft Adjacent Layer Magneto Resistive head (SAL) or the Single Stripe Magneto Resistive head (SSMR), the current direction through the sensor needs to be consistent with the orienting magnetic field of the sensor. Because the electronics and wiring requirements of individual file (magnetic disk storage) manufacturers are not standardized, the pad polarity designations on the slider are not always compatible with the current direction required in the device for magnetic requirements.
U.S. Patents which relate to read and/or write heads are listed below:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,585 (Aoyagi et al.) show a method for forming bonding leads to a slider and head. PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,982 (Arya et al.) discloses an improved slider-suspension electrical interconnection assembly. PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,753 (Mowry et al.) shows a contact scheme for minimizing inductive pickup in magneto restrictive (MR) read heads. PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,604 (Pattanaik) presents a process that forms solder bumps to contact to a thin film transducer. PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,968 (Lee et al.) describes a planarization method which shows the conventional coil and sensor wiring patterns. PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,186 (Bajorek et al.) teaches a method for shorting the MR head leads for ESD protection during manufacturing.
None of the cited related art suggest a single mask layer modification as a solution to the above listed problem. The proposed invention, detailed subsequently, allows the current direction to be switched by a single mask layer change, rather than redesigning all the layers relating to the magneto restrictive sensor leads. As different wiring requirements are requested, the current direction through the sensor can remain in the same relationship to the orienting field of the sensor by one mask layer modification.